The sculpture of Gagarin is installed and ready for the dedication. The panel featuring John Glenn is placed next to the sculpture.

On October 15th 2012 there was a dedication at 2999 South Wayside Drive, the Gragg building, NASA’s First Houston Headquarters. The dedication was honoring the first two space explorers to orbit the earth, Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin and Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr.

Father Lubomir Kupecz of St. Vladimir Russian Orthodox Church, Houston, blesses the artwork.

A sculpture of Yuri Gagarin, arms outstretched to embrace the vastness of space, and a panel of John Glenn were donated by Ruslan Bayramov president of International Charity Public Fund Dialogue of Cultures- United World. A gift from Russian to America.

After the park dedication there was a private reception at the Museum of Natural Science.

Now Americans will give-in kind a sculpture of Neil Armstrong to Russia.

“When I orbited the Earth in a spaceship, I saw for the first time how beautiful our planet is. Mankind, let us preserve and increase this beauty and not destroy it. ”Yuri A Gagarin

“The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to adnace the kind of science, math and technology education taht will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel. ”John H Glenn. Jr.

We are hand delivering these tonight at the reception for the Gagarin sculpture in Houston. We hope to begin to create an interest in this part of the project.

STUDENTS

Watch the journey of sculptor Bridgette Mongeon and learn about the history of space. Feel free to weigh in with your comments and thoughts.

TEACHERS

Use the images and blog posts on this site to encourage students participation in learning about space.
PEN PALES
Any classrooms in Russia want to meet students studying space in America? Let's meet here.